Older teenagers will be able to start booking their booster shots from Monday, it has been announced.
Previously, boosters were only recommended for clinically vulnerable 16 and 17-year-olds who are most at risk from Covid-19.
But around 40,000 teenagers will start receiving their invitations to get boosted next week.
GP and deputy lead for the NHS vaccination programme, Dr Nikki Kanani, said: ‘The NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme is expanding once again to offer eligible young people aged 16 and 17 the chance to book their boosters through the online booking service from tomorrow, with walk-in sites also available across the country, as the biggest and fastest vaccine drive in health service history continues at pace.
‘Covid has caused so much disruption for so many families over the past two years, affecting young people’s lives and education, and getting vaccinated protects them, their family and their friends, letting them stay at school and continue socialising.
‘We know that the best protection against coronavirus is to get vaccinated and I’d urge everyone, whatever your age, to come forward and get that vital top-up as soon as it is possible.’
More than 600,000 16 and 17-year-olds in England – who have been eligible for vaccines since August – have had their second jab and will have to wait three months before getting their third.
Most of them are likely to reach the three-month benchmark in the coming weeks.
Some 889,700 teenagers in England, the majority of which are 16 and 17, have had their first dose.
Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: ‘More than four in five adults in England have already been boosted, helping to protect them from severe illness and reduce the pressure on the NHS in the face of Omicron.
‘We’re now extending the programme to 16 and 17-year-olds so they can top-up their immunity this winter to keep themselves and their friends safe.
‘We can learn to live with Covid-19 if everybody comes forward for their vaccines and gets boosted now.’
However, it is important to note after the recent wave in Omicron cases that people who have recently had the virus need to wait 12 weeks or 84 days from their positive test before getting jabbed.
But those aged 16 and 17 who considered at high risk can wait just four weeks, or 28 days, from the date of a positive Covid-19 test before getting any dose of the vaccine.
More than 114 million doses have been delivered in England since the Covid-19 Vaccination Programme started in December 2020, including more than 30 million top-up doses.
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